BAD KARMA - My Review of BURN FOR BURN by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

Title: Burn For Burn
Author: Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date: 9/18/2012
Source: My bookshelf

Synopsis:
Postcard-perfect Jar Island is the kind of place where nobody locks their doors at night, where parents can sleep easy, knowing their daughters are tucked away safe and sound in their beds. 

But bad things can happen, even to good girls . . . and sometimes, the only way to make things right is to do something wrong. 

Lillia used to trust boys, but not anymore. Not after what happened this summer. And she’ll do whatever it takes to protect her little sister from the same fate. 

Kat is over the rumors, the insults, the cruel jokes made at her expense. It all goes back to one person--her ex-best friend. Someone needs to teach her a lesson, and, with Lillia and Mary behind her, Kat feels up to the task.

Four years ago, Mary left Jar Island because of a boy. But she’s not the same girl anymore. Now that she’s got friends who have her back, he's going to be in big trouble.

Three very different girls who come together to make things right. Will they go too far?

Do you really need me to go back and summarize the book for you again? No?  Good.

I have read and loved other books by both of these authors so I was very excited to see what they would come up with when they got together.  With BURN FOR BURN they did not disappoint.

Other people have compared BURN FOR BURN with PRETTY LITTLE LIARS mixed with some MEAN GIRLS for good measure.  I have never read (nor seen) PLL, but I can compare Lillia, Kat, and Mary with old school 90210.  But believe me, Brenda Walsh and Regina George have nothing on Rennie Holtz.

This book has everything you could ask for in a Young Adult novel.  There is family and friendships.  There is childhood hurts and unrequited love.  There are some peripheral love interests and possible future connections, but the strongest theme by far is revenge.

Lillia, Kat, and Mary get together and form and unlikely team, bent on exacting revenge on Rennie, Reeve, and Alex for their various "crimes".  Their schemes go too far, causing more damage than the girls ever imagined, but they can't back out now.  The agreement they made was to ruin Rennie, Reeve, and Alex, and it wouldn't be fair to stop now.

BURN FOR BURN ends in a rather large cliffhanger, but the good news is that FIRE WITH FIRE (BURN FOR BURN #2) is already out and ASHES TO ASHES (BURN FOR BURN #3) comes out September 16, 2014.

4 OUT OF 5 STARS

Bad Karma - Ida Maria